The present invention relates to a gun lock for a hand gun, such as a pistol or rifle, to prevent the owner or any other person who is authorized to use the gun from firing the gun at times when it is inappropriate or dangerous to do so.
Mechanical gun padlocks are designed to be installed on the guns in a position behind the trigger to block the trigger from moving rearward and firing the gun. Mechanical gun locks have also been installed within guns to prevent movement of the firing pin or other parts of the firing mechanism unless disabled with a key. Such gun locks use a physical key that can be easily duplicated, and the locks themselves can be compromised by means of a master key or a lock pick. These gun locks can therefore be opened by anyone in possession of one of the keys. With such gun locks it is not possible to restrict the use of the gun to the gun owner or to some other person who is licensed or otherwise authorized to use the gun.
The aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/763,951, filed Feb. 11, 2013 discloses a gun lock system which uses a “smartphone,” such as an Apple “iPhone,” with a suitable application (“phone app”) as an electronic key to unlock the gun. The smartphone transmits biologic identification (“BioID”) data about a person to an electronic lock on the gun which, in turn, matches it with pre-stored data and unlocks the gun if a proper match is found. This system allows only the gun owner (or some other person who is licensed or otherwise authorized), who has originally supplied their BioID data to the gun lock for storage, to use the gun. The system is difficult to compromise and yet allows the gun to be unlocked by any smartphone that can collect BioID data and transmit it to the gun. This system avoids the problem of unlocking a gun when the user's smartphone has been lost, stolen or broken or has been replaced by a new one.
Unfortunately, even the owner of a gun, or another person otherwise properly authorized to use the gun, may have the intention, as an act of anger, revenge, hostility, mental illness or the like, to use the gun inappropriately and thereby cause bodily harm or death to another human being. In such instances, it would be desirable to somehow anticipate the incompetency or inability of such a person to use the gun properly and safely, and either to alert the authorities or to lock the gun, or both, and thereby prevent its inappropriate use.
Moreover, it would be desirable to prevent the firing of a gun, even by the owner or another person otherwise properly authorized to use the gun, when such owner or authorized person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or is otherwise acting in less than a sane and sober manner.
It would also be desirable to prevent the firing of a gun in situations where the owner, or another person otherwise properly authorized to use the gun, has not planned in advance to make use of the gun. In this way, it may be possible to avoid unpremeditated uses of the gun that may occur in the so-called “heat of passion.”
Finally, it would be desirable to override all of the aforementioned safety precautions in the case of imminent danger to a person in possession of a gun, where immediate use of the gun is necessary, such as when a hostile third party threatens bodily injury or even death.